Roderick Hudson Literary Elements

Coming-of-age novel (bildungsroman)

New England and Europe in the years shortly following the Civil War.

The book is mostly told from the point of view of an objective third-person narrator, but the narrative perspective is clearly that of Rowland Mallet.

The tone of this novel, as always with James, is detached and academic. The mood is serious and sincere with only occasional and very precise utilization of irony.

Protagonist: Roderick Hudson. Antagonist: ironically, Roderick Hudson. The novel does not really feature what is conventionally termed a villain. The title character’s own behavior thus becomes the primary negative force leading to his downfall.

Several lesser conflicts are at interplay in the narrative, but they basically exist as a result of the overarching conflict which is Roderick’s inability to exert control over his artistic impulses. The conflict is thus man against himself as this lack of control influences the lesser external conflicts.

The story reaches its climax with Roderick’s fall to his death on a mountain in Switzerland.

Roderick’s death is foreshadowed earlier in the novel when Rowland Mallet’s intervention keeps Roderick from falling to his death under entirely different circumstances.

N/A

Perhaps the single most common interpretation of this novel is that the relationship between Roderick and Rowland is, in its entirety, an allusion to negation of homosexual desire. Two women are introduced as potential romantic partners to the men yet consummation is ultimately obstructed due to a relationship complexity. The ultimate negation of homosexual consummation can thus only be averted through the death of Roderick which leaves Rowland in a state of perpetual bachelorhood.

Roderick is perpetually displayed as an artistic genius. As such, he is overwhelmed with anxiety about living up to expectations. The existential unknowns of genius are proposed in one example of imagery which suggests that in addition to all the other anxieties its possibility brings, there is also the potential that it comes with a time limit attached: “What if the watch should run down and you should lose the key? What if you should wake up some morning and find it stopped, inexorably, appallingly stopped? Such things have been, and the poor devils to whom they happened have had to grin and bear it. The whole matter of genius is a mystery.”

N/A

Romantic subplots are reserved for the primary use of parallelism in the novel. Mary loves Roderick but finds herself thwarted by the appearance of Christina. Rowland loves Mary but is thwarted by his loyalty to Roderick. Roderick desires Christina but is thwarted by her mother’s insistence that she marry for money. Christina loves being a flirt with men dropping at her feet but is thwarted by her mother’s machinations forcing her to marry Prince Casamassima. Prince Casamassima loves Christina and carries the blessing of her mother but is thwarted by Christina’s desire to rebel against her mother. In the end, it is only the Prince—unsurprisingly—who gets what he wants.

“Greek” is used several times as a metonym to refer more broadly to ancient Greek art as examples of the aesthetic ideal of beauty to which Roderick aspires.

Rome is personified as a location with an agenda capable of fueling artistic inspiration simply as a result of being there.